


Weakness

by ohmyvalar



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: (?), Angst with a Happy Ending, Dubious Morality, Enemies to Lovers, First Order Politics, Force Choking, Hate Sex, Inappropriate Use of the Force, Kinda, M/M, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Power Play, Star Wars: The Last Jedi Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2019-02-17 13:28:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13077855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmyvalar/pseuds/ohmyvalar
Summary: The course of ambition (and maybe even true love) never did run smooth.Hux struggles to discover Ren's greatest weakness in hopes of exploiting it, and reveals a few of his own in the process.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> SPOILERS FOR TLJ AHEAD. Don't read if you don't want to be spoiled! That said, I'm not the most familiar with the extensive amount of SW lore, so be warned of possible canon retcons;;

_"And together, we can rule the galaxy."_

Only the moment before, the figures had been engaged in a deadly battle against their adversaries. Now one of them was extending his hand towards the other, a proposal on his lips - the transition from familiar, pulse-settling action to sickening romance was something right out of a Holonet soap opera. 

All around the couple, the broken bodies of the Praetorian guard lay, strewn and still - a bizarre ritual circle that, more than anything, symbolized the death of Snoke. The red-clad elite soldiers, sedulously selected by the Supreme Leader himself, protected their master with their lives - and failing in their mission, were sworn to end their own. 

For years now, Armitage Hux had envied the absolute loyalty this clause guaranteed - and kept a discreet eye out for suitable candidates to assemble his own guard in the future. 

And there was Kylo Ren himself, standing amidst it all, seemingly oblivious of the enormity of the act he had just committed, with eyes only for the Force-sensitive of unknown identity - 

Wait - Hux _recognized_ that girl. 

"Mitaka, get on it." 

The General's typically impatient tone was accentuated by an additional, dangerous dose of rage. 

"Y-yes, sir."

An enlargement of the footage yielded confirmation of her identity. It was that Resistance scum from Starkiller Base, who had defeated Ren in a one-to-one lightsaber duel, despite supposedly never having received any training at all.

Hux's already terse face further contorted into a deep scowl. 

Her triumph had been the final nail into the coffin as far as the disastrous battle was concerned, cementing the First Order's losses on Starkiller Base. Although... It was true that a significant proportion of Snoke's ire at his subordinates' failure had been relegated to Ren, in light of the weakness his loss had reflected. 

An insuppressible smile lifted a corner of Hux's face before he crushed it with grim annoyance. As much as the remembrance of the Supreme Leader's severe castigation of his rival assuaged his anger, it only worsened Hux's perplexity at Ren's actions now. 

It seemed to him inexplicable that the Knight, whose pride and self-worth had clearly taken a severe hit from his defeat at the hands of this girl who couldn't even be called his contemporary in good conscience, would broker an alliance with the very source of his failure. 

Hux turned his attention back to the tiny blue pixels which formed Ren's frame on the hologram recording - just in time to notice the raw expression spreading across the Knight's face. 

Not many sentient beings throughout the galaxy could claim to have seen Kylo Ren's true face before his recent unmasking - and fewer still lived to speak of it - but the General was, fortunately or unfortunately, very much on the ever-growing list. 

And if Hux had ever been certain of anything about the Knight, it was what his own eyes had observed: his face was an open book. 

Chalk it up to compliant reliance on the cover of his melodramatic shield of a mask, or put it down to a natural weakness in schooling emotions into neutrality. Ren was incapable of lying with his face. 

All of this knowledge only expounded Hux's sense of disorientation as he silently noted the earnest light of desire in Ren's dark eyes and the trembling anticipation of his outstretched hand. 

The tilting angle of the surveillance droid aligned above the Knight, and for a split second a strange illusion dropped its veil before Hux's eyes. 

Ren was staring right through the hologram - no, through even the fabric of space and time itself; unguarded, impassioned, yearning.

_"Please."_

The single syllable sent a shockwave of mixed emotions down Hux's spine, some of which he did not care to examine before the entire bridge crew. Abruptly, the General snapped upright in his chair. 

"Sir, are you alright?" 

Hux waved the concerned inquiry aside with an impatient hand. It would be unwise to show weakness now, more than ever, in front of the many eyes of the First Order. And Hux was no fool. His military background and his dearly departed father's guidance had provided him with a critical aptitude in tracing the intricate web of alliances and rivalries within the Order, ever-shifting as the tide. 

Under Snoke, the undisputed united power of the testy triumvirate Hux formed had prevented the navigation of those waters from becoming too treacherous. The alliance would not have lasted for so long, of course, without the Supreme Leader's unspoken approval.

Snoke had been content to endorse their little power plays, allowing them to play themselves off against each other to ensure that their individual influences never grew strong enough to threaten his own reign. Now, with the head of the First Order quite literally decapitated, a tsunami was approaching on the horizon. 

All along the pecking order, stormtroopers and officers and Knights alike were jockeying for power in the vacuum of leadership; some merely securing a raft for safety, while others sought to climb the ladder to sate their ambitions. 

As for the triumvirate... With Phasma out of the picture, Ren claiming the throne of Supreme Leader, and Hux himself undermined by the Knight, there was little hope of restoring the fissured alliance to its former stabilizing status. 

Hux kept narrowed eyes trained on the hologram recording as it continued playing out, but his mind had already spiraled away. 

Yes, the recording provided indisputable evidence for Kylo Ren's betrayal and murder of Supreme Leader Snoke. But in Hux's world political assassinations were as commonplace and conventional as bread and butter. Failure was scorned and ridiculed, whilst success in stepping on the dead bodies of rivals to ascend through the ranks was winked at and even admired. 

Ren, in aiming to replace Snoke and clearly possessing the power enforce his new position over any challenger, was headed towards the latter. 

Revealing this hologram recording to the First Order would be ineffectual in discrediting Ren to the end of his expulsion, and only invite Ren's notorious temper and vengeance.

Even now, with the Knight having become an unprecedented threat, Hux barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes as an image of Ren throwing his usual tantrums appeared in his mind's eye. 

Then the familiar anger, this time laced with a creeping despair, surfaced. 

It wasn't fair. Kylo Ren was, as his frequent loss of control repeatedly exhibited, an immature, reckless upstart, incapable of following orders or committing to rational thought processes. 

But because of his mystical powers - the Force, like the Sith and Jedi of old - Ren had barraged through the usual politicking and ascended to his place in the First Order as leader of the Knights of Ren, a shrouded legion detached from Hux's armed forces but nevertheless awarded a power equal to the General. 

And now, this same Force had enabled Ren to brutishly wrench him into a subservient position without Snoke's interference. In the throne room, before the mount of evidence of the destruction of Snoke's command structure, Hux had been forced to his knees, caught off guard. 

To Ren, oblivious to the finer aspects of political maneuverings, that physical display of obedience was undoubtedly tantamount to an unbreakable oath of loyalty. The Knight would not demand another, more public and hence damning, show of deference - because he did not expect Hux to argue against his new position. 

The General could not allow it to remain so. If he ever wanted to sit the Supreme Leader's throne - and oh how he did, how his entire life hinged on it - he had to exploit the mayhem produced in the immediate aftermath of Snoke's death, the gaps in the ranks from the inevitable mutinies that would erupt and the general mood of fear and uncertainty.

The hologram flickered and paused on a still of the two figures standing off, hands outstretched in a battle of wills as the lightsaber hilt hovered in the air between them, caught in an invisible struggle. 

A questioning glare at the bridge techcom officer yielded a nervous shaking of her head. No further footage could be gleaned from the sole surveillance droid that had been retrieved from the throne room. 

Pushing his chair back, Hux stood up. 

Immediately, Mitaka and a few other loyal officers turned hesitant gazes on their General. 

"Sir - what shall we do?"

Hux bristled. Although his first instinct was to reprimand his subordinates for their inopportune impertinence, he swiftly noted and understood the uncertainty in their watchful eyes. 

Snoke was dead, and the ensuing power struggle was already beginning. If they were to remain loyal to their General, they deserved some form of guidance as reassurance that it would be rewarded. 

"The recording will remain secret for now. As for our... new Leader... We will be having a long talk."

Hux roved his gaze over the crew assembled on the bridge. Besides the reliable entourage clustered around him, officers of unknown loyalties manned their respective stations, some not even bothering to feign disinterest. And there were always the two stormtroopers guarding the door...

None quite dared to meet his gaze directly, but Hux read their intentions clearly enough. 

As long as his position as General remained intact, the power he wielded in the First Order was enough to ensure that no self-preserving officer would risk openly inviting his ire. 

But this was also a time of intensified plotting and testing the bridles of old loyalties and rivalries. 

For now, the contents of the recording might remain safe, but its existence would likely be exposed. 

No matter. Let Ren hear of it, and fear. With the Knight's poor grasp of the politics of the First Order, Hux doubted they would come to the same conclusion regarding the best way to handle the recording. 

"Is that _understood?"_

"Yes, sir!" 

Satisfied with the unanimous display of deference, Hux turned on his heel and strode out of the bridge, past the sliding doors. The feeling of all eyes on bridge fixated on him and the unhesitating footsteps of his entourage right behind him filled him with a sense of security that surpassed the rank-indicating stripes emblazoned on his uniform. 

-

In his impassioned speech towards the Rebel girl, the Knight had uttered two words: greatest weakness. 

As the General stalked down a corridor, the words and all their connotations plagued his mind. 

Hux knew the power of weakness. Oh, he knew it well; and had exploited it many times throughout his career before and with the First Order. 

No one was impervious to weakness. From high-ranking, influential Admirals to nameless, expendable non-commissioned officers - everyone in the galaxy wanted something; be it power, or protection, or sex, or a secret to keep. 

Yes, perhaps that was the key. In tempting the Rebel girl, Ren may have unconsciously revealed his own greatest weakness. 

But what is it? 

It might stem from his cardinal sin of pride, but Hux thought he understood Kylo Ren's worth to the First Order well enough. 

Of his weaknesses, there were many. 

There was of course the Knight's intolerable temperament; his childish fits and their destructive consequences (of which the damage to expensive machinery was Hux's chief concern - stormtroopers and low-ranking officers whom happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time were at least easily replaced). 

Worse, his petulance, combined with his poor political acumen, never failed to arouse a similar irrationality within Hux himself. For one so untrained and naturally unendowed with the art of influencing and maneuvering save through embarrassingly brutish threats of power, Ren's insistence on installing himself as Hux's political rival was endlessly aggravating. 

This had resulted in numerous inconveniences and interruptions in the General's machinations, without which his troops would undoubtedly have performed as a disciplined, well-oiled cogs in the grand machine of the First Order. 

Just thinking on it made a snarl twist his features. The nerve of the fool! If he had only admitted his own inferiority and deferred to Hux at their first meeting before Snoke, Hux was certain that the Knight could never have matched him at his own game. 

Unconsciously, he accelerated the speed of his pace, prompting his following entourage of officers to hurry after him in a thunder of military-issue boots clicking against the floor. 

(He could not have seen it, but behind his back, two of his officers were mouthing "Lord Ren", and heaving silent sighs, correctly guessing the usual source of their General's frustration.)

And then there was Ren's reliance on Snoke. Or at least, that was what Hux had assumed from his observations, up until he verified that Snoke met his end at the hands of his apprentice just moments ago. 

Ginger brows knit together at the thought. To all appearances, the Knight had been exceedingly loyal to the Supreme Leader. 

Hux himself made the customary effort to present an image of fealty, but it would be an absurd lie to pretend that Snoke didn't glimpse the ambition seething behind his respectful mask. 

Ren, on the other hand... His appearance of devotion to the Supreme Leader had been another infuriatingly inexplicable aspect of his character. 

Hux grudgingly admitted that it might stem from his bond to Snoke in some kind of Sith ritual that he had no knowledge about. But even so, with the undisputed loyalty of his occultist cult of Knights, whom held no true allegiance to the First Order, had the thought of overpowering his teacher and overlord never crossed Ren's mind? 

Time, of course, had answered Hux's question now. 

And yet the General was reluctant to think that his judgement had been mistaken. Ren's show of loyalty had been so complete and convincing that Hux's numerous attempts at driving a wedge of suspicion between master and apprentice were merely laughed off by Snoke, who rivaled for the position of the most distrustful leader Hux had ever served under. 

No, he decided. Something must have transpired in the past months - no, Hux would not put it past the Knight to have planned the assassination in days after a sudden, violent revulsion in mood. 

What was it? 

The General was a busy man, but the nature of their rivalry meant that he had eyes trained - mostly underlings', but sometimes his own - on the Knight at all times. His spies could not infiltrate Ren's private quarters nor penetrate his thoughts, but they produced sufficient information to monitor the Knight nonetheless. 

The elevator doors pinged open, revealing two occupants with their heads leaned close together. Catching sight of their General, they abruptly broke apart and one snapped up into a swift salute. 

Their furtiveness deepened into alarm when Hux shot them a suspicious stare. He vaguely recognized one as a lieutenant affiliated with Phasma. As for the other... From their flowing black cloak and robes - strictly against military regulation - he was reasonably certain that they were a member of the Knights of Ren. 

"Out." Hux ordered, and the pair didn't have to be told twice.

The galaxy only knew what kind of conspiracies were being cooked up and spread around in that very moment. Was the leader of the Knights already seeking to secure his stake on leadership by recruiting Phasma's unmanned troops to his side? Of course, the General's own agents were doing the very same now, but perhaps he'd underestimated Ren's politicking skills...

He turned to trail a watchful eye on the hastily retreating couple, and was rewarded with the sight of Phasma's woman placing a tender hand against her companion's mask. The scene exuded an aura of intimacy, recognizable even to one as unfamiliar with such things as Hux - and decidedly unprofessional. 

Hux let out a disbelieving scoff, lifting an eyebrow. He would not have guessed that any of Ren's brood had the innovation or ability to employ seduction as a tool for manipulation. 

An image of the unmasked face of the Knights' leader flashed through his mind. Hux had to admit that his face and body were not - unpleasant - but surely, any appeal would be destroyed by his infuriating personality. 

Disturbed by the thought that he - anyone - would consider Ren attractive, Hux sniffed. 

Now cocooned in the relative privacy of the shuttle lift, Hux snapped, "Kylo Ren. Report. Now."

An officer shuffled forwards, Holopad in hand. "Lord Ren is in a meeting with the Knights - in the Supreme Lea - that is, the throne room. Sir."

_The throne room?_

The General had dispatched the relevant personnel and a suitable amount of clean-up droids to restore the red - in more ways than one, as anyone granted audience would well know - room, immediately after the first clash with the Resistance on Crait.

Ren's decision to meet his Knights there had to be symbolic. Surely even the Knight understood the signal he was sending out to every rank and file in the First Order and beyond by appropriating the late Supreme Leader's receiving chamber as his new meeting ground. 

Kylo Ren was ready to enforce his power and usurp the throne, and by not inviting Hux... Intentionally or otherwise, he was diminishing the General's worth in the eyes of the First Order. 

"Sir?" 

Hux snapped his attention back to the present just in time to catch his entourage watching him with expressions varying from worry to thoughtful. Yes, even among his own, there would always be those secretly harboring predispositions towards betrayal and unwise ambitions. 

Carefully schooling his face into neutrality, the General prompted his officer to continue. 

"Well? What else do you have to report from your recent observations?"

"Yes, of course, sir. As you know, Lord Ren has taken to going about unmasked. We have received reports that Lord Ren removed it following a meeting with the late Supreme Leader. There are uncertified rumors that broken remains of the mask were found in a shuttle lift, sir."

"And..." At this the officer paused, hesitation clear on his face. 

"Proceed. And cease this unprofessional rambling." 

"Y-yes. There are reports of Lord Ren speaking alone to - himself, sir, as if in conversation with something - someone unseen." 

A shudder rippled through the officer's frame at the words and their connotations. 

Hux frowned. He knew that many of the First Order feared the mysterious powers of the Knights of Ren, but he had not thought his own close aides susceptible to the same weakness. 

But his reprimand caught in his throat, which remembered the pressure of Ren's hold well enough, even if his heart did not wish to. 

It is merely a natural advantage, offset by his many weaknesses, Hux thought to himself. And I will discover and use those to end his plans. 

The rest of the elevator ride elapsed in further discussion of Kylo Ren's daily routines and erratic whims. By the time the doors slid open to reveal the General's quarters, Hux was sufficiently vexed by the account of Ren's antics that he stepped in alone. 

"Mitaka, send a messenger droid to inform Kylo Ren that I will be visiting him at 21:00. The rest of you are dismissed."

Normally, he would have used the word "summon" instead of "inform", and "seeing" instead of "visiting". But even Hux could look past his pride to lure the Knight into a sense of security; this was no time to act rashly, although he could not afford to be too slow in laying down his terms with Ren either. 

In any case, Ren had never responded well to demands. Hux would watch how he reacted to a... softer approach, and rearrange his plans accordingly. 

Alone in his rooms, Hux sat down in his leather-backed armchair and stared down at his immaculate genuine-wood desk. Eyes narrowed, he began to brood and plan. 

_Greatest weakness_. Everyone had one. The question was, what was Ren's?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plot (?) thickens...

At 21:00 standard time sharp, Hux pressed his glove-clad palm to the comm by Kylo Ren's quarters. 

Ren's rooms, unlike his own, were situated in a quiet corner of Deck 5. Their accommodation was one of the only aspects in which the Knight and the General were not in a head-to-head rivalry. 

Whilst Hux accepted and was satisfied by the status his expansive quarters reflected, recognizing the importance of appearance of power in any organization, Ren valued privacy. 

Admittedly, the inaccessible location of the quarters only further perpetuated the mystery of the Knight's mystical powers in the Force, which Hux saw as a valuable strategy - he just doubted that Ren had decided on it with that thought in mind. 

_Although that might not continue for long,_ Hux reflected bitterly. As Supreme Leader, surely even Ren would know to conduct himself in Snoke's authoritative, impervious manner. 

The Knight-turned-Leader would move into Snoke's old quarters, or establish a new set of rooms, and Hux would be left with an empty shell of his power as General, if Ren's aggressively hands-on approach to directing military attacks on Criat were any indication. 

_No._ Hux dispelled the uncharacteristically negative thoughts, undoubtedly fueled by a mixture of sleep deprivation and the unfortunate turn of events. 

He would find the Knight's weakness and press it, until Ren's face twisted in pain and he sunk down on his knees like he had been forced to, begging for compromise. Then Hux would crush the ribcage that protected that angry, impulsive heart and hold it in his hand, making his pulse dance to Hux's own beat. 

Yes, that was what he would do. The fantasy soothed his anger even as it doubled his heartbeat. 

Before him, the heavy doors slid open with an ominous thud. Hux would have rolled his eyes, if not for the apprehension that settled like a heavy weight in his thumping heart. What happened next in this room might pave the future of his career - or cut it abruptly, violently short. 

The interior of Ren's rooms were dark, even by the standards of the First Order's standard monochrome color scheme. In annoyance, Hux searched the space for any sign of the signature black robes.

"What brings you here... General?" 

The voice, distinctively human but no less deep without the signature mask, sounded from behind him, and Hux spun around on his heel, taken off-guard. 

The man before him was unmasked, but his unruly hair curled around the side of his face, hiding his expression from view. In his usual dark robes, he blended into the darkness, a shadow sneaking amongst its own. 

Something was different about him; a kind of darkness that went beyond mere poor lighting clung to his frame like a guilty ghost. He looked like a creature from a childhood nightmare, except that he was very, very real.

Hux's spine had pulled rigid under the tension, but now the energy drained out of him like air from a viciously popped balloon. The sound of his own boots clacking against the floor was as loud as a pin-drop in dead silence. Cold sweat ran down Hux's back underneath his long coat. 

They were alone. His officers - those loyal enough to risk their lives for him against their new leader - might find him here, but only too late. 

Then Ren stepped forward. A thin beam of illumination fell across his cheek, a lance of light cutting through the oppressive darkness. Hux's eyes followed the silver of the scar the Rebel girl had inflicted on him back on Starkiller. It was not as - _unattractive_ \- as the Knight likely assumed. 

That brought Hux's purpose in setting foot into this place back to the forefront of his mind. Lifting his head and straightening his spine, the General felt himself settle back into their usual routine. 

"When you're Supreme Leader, you cannot sneak around like a _common criminal_ on your own ship." 

The sentence was delivered with a condescending tone that belied the validation of the Knight's new position. 

Ren - blinked, slowly. The corner of his mouth twitched; in a smile or a snarl, Hux knew not. 

"Careful, General. I am not who I was." 

And that was just typical Ren. Hux could play this game. 

"Cease this melodramatic performance. Assassinating a superior and orchestrating a coup can hardly have altered you significantly if you continue to speak in this manner." 

This time Hux clearly observed anger flash across the Knight's face. A thrill of fear snaked down his spine. He'd dealt his hand, and now the die was cast. 

And yet at the same time, Ren's posture was relaxing as an unseen tension eased out of his frame. 

"You know. You - don't care?" 

Despite everything, Hux had to scoff at that. "Snoke was only obeyed because he was the head of the First Order. I would admire you for your execution, if I didn't understand the mind behind it. Do you honestly think this is the first time I've watched a commanding officer die by the hand of a political rival?" 

For once, Ren didn't rise to the bait. He pushed the jibe aside and retaliated, "The Supreme Lea - Snoke. Never loved nor trusted you either." 

Hux raised an incredulous eyebrow. "As he did you? Only the more convenient for you when you turned against him, I expect."

An indignant scowl crossed Ren's face. "I didn't - He was the one who -" He caught himself abruptly. "He was my Master, and the last thing he instructed me in was the reason he had to die." 

There was a strange reverence still in his voice, as if even after cutting the Leader down, a shadow of his esteem in the Knight's eyes remained. 

_Any idiot could tell he was only using you to his own ends, fool,_ Hux sneered inwardly. But at the same time another thought formed in his mind - _I could use that kind of loyalty._

It would be dangerous - after all in Ren's twisted psyche he had somehow reconciled his respect and execution of the same being as the right thing to do. But Hux would not underestimate him as Snoke had. 

Was this the Knight's greatest weakness? A strange compulsion to form bonds that inconveniently extended beyond the professional amongst his comrades? 

The Knight began to pace, his long cloak trailing after him in a dramatic fashion. "I've cast off the yoke of the past. We will no longer be ruled by the obstreperous fatuity of our predecessors - the Sith Lords, the Galactic Empire, the Emperors -" 

Abruptly, Ren's blazing eyes met the General's. As if realizing whom he addressing for the first time, the impassioned speech - which Hux privately thought sounded suspiciously rehearsed - died away. 

For a second, the two rivals held a testy stare. As two predators crossing paths in their territories vied for dominance, so too they refused to back down, each seeking to subjugate the other to their will. 

To his surprise, Ren was the first to look away. "I - know that you must feel - indignant - that I put you in your place."

_Indignant?_

Something closer to slighted fury reared its head within Hux. 

But he forced himself to project an air of neutrality. He had long heard tales and reports of the Knight's ability to snatch thoughts out of minds, though he had had little chance to test them. In regards to emotions, however, he was ready to concede the point. 

After all, you didn't need the Force to read a person's feelings. That was plain observation. 

Keeping as level a tone as he could manage, Hux replied, "And what would that be? My _place?"_

"A General," Ren answered without pause. "Although you would much rather be Emperor. I can sense it." 

"It doesn't take a mind-reader to know that," Hux countered. _Brendol Hux's son, shaped in his image, coming into his heritage by arranging for his own father's assassination. Oh,_ that _was irony he would forever savor._ How could such a man seek anything other than unparalleled power? 

"As long as you continue your allegiance, you will remain the First Order's General." 

The words were clearly spoken with the intention to intimidate, but without the natural asset of his timorous voice and the very real threat of his Force abilities, their delivery would have been laughable. As it was, Hux restrained himself to a scathing sneer. 

Thanks to his father, the General had been well-versed in the subtle art of manipulation even before he entered the ranks of the First Order. Political maneuvering was a natural part of the ascent to the top in every social structure. In his old set of Imperial Academy elite students, it was the only language spoken and respected. 

Kylo Ren, on the other hand, had clearly never received any such training; nor did he possess a natural talent for it. 

"Yes; in reputation and capability alike, I am the undisputed candidate for Generalship - and beyond."

"Your position as Supreme Leader - or whatever else you name yourself - will be precarious in the first months." Well, if the follow-up strike on Crait succeeded in eradicating the last vestiges of the Resistance force, it would be a whole another story, but Ren didn't need to know that. "You and I both know that Snoke ruled with an iron fist, but a liberal command system. And you might be the only expert regarding the Force and the Knights onboard, but you know nowhere near enough about the details of supervising a ship of this size, much less the entire First Order fleet. With Phasma gone, you need me to continue maintaining the various units' productive capacities. Without me the First Order will fall apart from within - there will be mutinies, coupes, civil war." 

By the end of the rant Hux was running short of breath from the exertion and the hauteur that inevitably influenced his speech towards those of lower pedigree (such as Ren).

Ren, standing across him, was looking him over with a strange, amused smile shaping his lips. His arms were crossed over his chest lazily. 

For once, the ever-present tension between them had ebbed from a tsunami into mere choppy waters. Hux decided that he did not like this new change in dynamic between them. For one, it was forcing him to acknowledge the outrageous charm of Ren's smile. 

And that was just - unthinkable - vile - _disgusting - impossible -_

Just to knock that infuriatingly patronizing smirk off the Knight's face, Hux said, "Even you have your weaknesses, Ren. And I'm going to find out your greatest one." 

The smile slipped off Ren's face, restoring the infuriating aura he was always projecting. Hux grimly congratulated himself on regaining his own sanity, even as Ren's response sent an imperceptible shiver through him. 

"I don't have a greatest weakness. Not anymore." 

"I killed them. In past, in present, in future - nothing shall stand in my way." 

In his irritatingly long strides, Ren closed the space between them. His black eyes burned with a deadly conviction; he truly believed that he had slain his demons with a simple wave of his flashy laser sword. 

_Killed - what?_

For a minute Hux's mind drew an honest blank. Military or mystical, professional or reckless, they were both engaged engines in the grand machinations of the First Order. 

They were in the middle - or the end, Hux supposed, if he were given to optimism - of a war of annihilation. Executions were commonplace; and something to exalt in when the targets were intergalactic terrorists like the Rebellion. Even when every last beacon of Rebel sentiment was crushed, capital punishment would undoubtedly play a prominent role in enforcing peace throughout the galaxy under the First Order.

Of all the things he sneered at Ren being, a coward was not one of them. Nor was restraint. If anything, as several occasions had clearly demonstrated, the Knight possessed a greater bloodlust than even himself. 

Killing was only the bread and butter of their lives as enforcers of the First Order's glorious vision. 

So what did the Knight think he was confessing to him?

Mentally, Hux went through the endless lists of official documents he stored in the back of his mind. He came up with nothing; no one of particular importance among the ranks of proscriptions. 

Except - an image of the two blades, thrumming red and blue respectively, clashing against each other on a field of red snow flashed in Hux's mind. 

Yes. Certainly Jedi Master Luke Skywalker's execution would count among even the First Order's greatest achievements - although that was as yet unconfirmed by official reports. As for Ren - his fatuous idolation of Darth Vader undoubtedly amplified his ecstasy at having slain the Sith Lord's traitorous son. 

And - the two Force-wielders had seemed to share a relationship that went beyond hatred for an as-yet-unencountered enemy. Luke. That was what Ren had named the Jedi. 

_Could it be...?_ The thought slowly formed in Hux's mind. Skywalker had disappeared off the galaxy's map for decades now, but so had generations of Jedi before him, from what the General remembered from his Academy curriculum. It was not improbable that the Jedi had been hiding away on some remote backwater planet, instructing disciples with Rebel sympathies and Jedi training, biding his time to rejoin the Resistance. 

Could Ren, together with that girl he had offered co-rulership to, have trained together under Luke Skywalker's tutelage?

The Knight had claimed, in his official report, that Starkiller had been his first meeting with the untrained girl. But Hux wouldn't put it past him to have lied on both accounts - it wouldn't even be the first time the General caught him in a transparent lie in his poor-quality reports to the First Order archive. 

If it was so, Ren had betrayed and killed two of his mentors in the span of a day. Even to someone with Hux's experience, that was admittedly a feat. 

And yet the strange feelings welling up within him were not entirely grudging respect - nor even jealousy.

(Amongst the swirling, confusing blend of emotions, there was... relief. That although Ren had not extended the same offer of joint leadership to him, the disparity in treatment might have stemmed from some old relationship, and not -)

(Not _what?_ Hux didn't need anyone's validation, least of all the Knight's. He'd pulled himself up every rung of the ugly ladder of the First Order's hierarchy. He'd defied every old-fashioned Imperial's dismissal of his lowly, illegitimate origins and risen beyond his birthright. He'd destroyed entire star systems just by a word of command.)

But beneath it all, reassuringly stronger than all the rest, loomed a familiar distaste

_Ah, there it is._ Hux closed his eyes and directed the ever-flowing stream of hatred towards Ren into a boiling river. Anger was reckless, even dangerous, at this sensitive juncture.

But it was also infinitely safer.

So the great Kylo Ren thought his greatest weakness was a bond to elements from his past? 

Hux struggled to hide his scorn. 

People were people were people, and in the General's book useless people were dead people - metaphorically or literally, he cared not. As befitting someone of his status, Rebel sympathizers and allies alike were eager to catch his attention. 

Bonds were something to manipulate - and cut off, if necessary. Hux had never before allowed his heart to enter into such affairs. 

And, staring up into Ren's dark eyes, Hux came to a realization: you're wrong, you juvenile, sentimental fool. 

"You aren't afraid of your emotional attachments to your past. You're afraid of loneliness." 

_And one perpetuates the other, as you convince yourself that you only feel alone because of the memory of your past relations, but each forcibly, violently ended bond solely serves to exacerbate your loneliness -_

An incapacitating shockwave of agony seized Hux's head. A million stars bloomed and exploded before his elliptic vision with all the destructive force of a supernova. 

And looming impossibly above him, his curly hair a cloud of ravenous crows perched to devour Hux, was Ren. With every twist of his enraged expression, Hux felt a pain comparable to a blaster beam slowly slicing through his brain. He knew without doubt that Ren was inside his head. 

" _Say it again._ " Ren enunciated. His face was a terrifying mask of humanity pulled taut, revealing the monster beneath. Because that was who he was; a primal beast deeply tied to the immense, incalculable power of the Force. 

How much of that thought was him himself, and how much was Ren's own? 

The pressure tightened into thick columns of wood drilling themselves into Hux's mind. His teeth chattered erratically with a force that rattled his skull when he attempted to part his lips.

Despite the torture, despite the fear, despite the rage; it was not from Academy conditioning but the deep well of spite within him that Hux summoned the will to spit out, "I _said,_ you're just a small, scared _child_ afraid of loneliness!" 

He full well expected Ren to strike him, or perhaps even crush his head into a bloody pulp with the Force. He'd certainly witnessed such immediate violence from Ren towards enemies whom dared rile him up during interrogations. 

But instead, the Knight lifted all the pressure from him. 

Uncontrollably, Hux sagged under the relief from the burden. The furious, manic grin that had split his face under Ren's ministrations slid off his face as he regained his sober mind. 

It was only then that he realized that he had collapsed onto his desk. He decided not to risk putting any weight on his shaky legs. Thrusting his head up at a haughty angle, Hux directed as calm a smile as he could muster at the Knight. 

_I know now,_ Kylo. _And I can destroy you with what I know._ He channeled the thought venomously, sending his message loud and clear. 

But the expression on Ren's face was one of placid determination. Hux's heart skipped a beat. The Knight might have a terrible poker face, but that didn't mean that Hux could identify his intentions at any moment. 

Dark eyes boring deep into Hux's own, Ren intoned, "And I will know yours, _Armitage_."

A black, gloved hand thrusted out into the air before him. 

The General fell to the ground, his clothed knees skidding painfully as he landed hard. 

Meticulously groomed hair falling over his eyes, hands preemptively clutching the floor, glaring up at his assailant, Hux opened his mouth to curse -

Then his mind opened up against his will. With an ease that felt like a patronizing hand running through his hair, Ren was browsing through his memories like an open book. 

At first the Knight skimmed, extracting and discarding memories quickly and carelessly. Then, as he neared what he sought, he lingered and pondered, forcing Hux to relieve moments agonizing for different reasons that he would rather have stayed locked away. 

Hux had never regretted the strict uniformity with which he organized his mind as he did now. 

He fought, as well as he possibly could, by distracting the Knight with other meaningless memories strewn into Ren's steady path down his memory cells.

_Stop fighting. No one - not even you, General - can win against the power of the Force_. 

As Ren began ruthlessly tearing into his mind, Hux began to discern a gradual pattern in his search.

_No. No, no, no -_

Desperate fire lighting in his every nerve, Hux redoubled his efforts, but to little avail. Ren destroyed his efforts and rerouted his brain, trapping Hux within his own mind.

_Yes, just like that... Surrender to the Force. Surrender to_ me. _You will reveal to me all that I wish to know - Oh, what's_ this? 

Ren tossed the memory back at Hux. 

It uncoiled and expanded until its sounds and sights filled every corner of his mind, blocking out all other sensation. 

In the memory, Hux was on his knees too. But the beings that stood before him in succession were infinitely more repulsive to him than Ren would ever be, because they were safe from Hux's vengeance, preserved in his memories of the past. 

White noise buzzed in his ear. Hux's vision went white.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading :)


End file.
